Wall Street Poised For Flat 2015 Finish

(RTTNews) - Reflective of the year's performance, Wall Street is set to open the last trading session of the year on a flat note. Asian stocks closed on a lackluster note, while the European markets are seeing weakness. Commodities are seeing an upward bounce, although they took a battering in 2015. The domestic markets could also keep track on economic data on jobless claims and Chicago area business activity.

As of 6:15 am ET, the Dow futures are adding 12 points, the S&P 500 futures are up 2 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures are gaining 5 points.

U.S. stocks retreated on Wednesday along with crude oil amid light trading activity, with weak pending home sales also impacting sentiment.

On the economic front, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its jobless claims report for the week ended December 26th at 8:30 am ET. Economists expect claims to have increased to 270,000 from 267,000 in the previous week.

MNI Indicators is set to release the results of its Chicago business barometer survey for December at 9:45 am ET. The consensus estimate calls for an increase in the business barometer to 50 from 48.7 in November.

In corporate news, Chimerix (CMRX) could see some bounce after asset management firm Point72 announced a 5.3 percent stake purchase in the company.

Weight Watchers (WTC) began to air a TV commercial featuring Oprah Winfrey, who picked up a 10 percent stake in the company earlier this year.

The Asian markets ended the final trading session of the year on a lackluster note, although the Japanese, Indonesian and South Korean markets remained closed for public holidays. The insipid showing by Wall Street stocks overnight weighed on the markets even as commodities staged a rebound. Most markets that were open had truncated sessions.

Australia's All Ordinaries saw volatility in the morning session before it declined steeply. The index closed the abbreviated the session down 21.80 points or 0.41 percent at 5,345. The market witnessed broad based weakness, with energy, IT, material and real estate stocks among the worst hit.

China's Shanghai Composite Index ended a volatile session down 33.69 points or 0.94 percent at 3,539. However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index an abbreviated session 32.25 points or 0.15 percent higher at 21,914.

On the economic front, a report released by the Reserve Bank of Australia showed that private sector credit in Australia rose 0.4 percent month-over-month in November compared to expectations for a 0.6 percent increase. Annually, credit climbed a smaller than expected 6.6 percent. Housing credit rose 0.6 percent compared to the previous month.

European stocks opened lower and are seeing modest weakness. In the absence of any major catalysts and amid light activity in a truncated session, lackluster mood may prevail. The German market is closed for a holiday.